arrangements

by Catherine

But I am your keeper, and I hold your face away from rain.

ab·so·lu·tion/noun/1 a formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment.2 an ecclesiastical declaration of forgiveness of sins or of the remission of penance. 3 forgiveness. [Latin absolutio -onis (as absolve)]

An hour before sunset, the installation begins to take its form: 50 letters sealed into parchment-coloured envelopes hand-cut from cardstock (because of a conversation in which white envelopes were too cleanly representative of theme, and too lightweight to the touch to represent tension) each 5.5″x4.25,” hang in two sets of five rows facing each other. Each envelope is near-identical: a QR code square, and hand-written in red ink, a time-stamp between 6:59pm on October 1 and 7:16am on October 2, and a different lyrical line meant to be identified by different viewers. Sequence and repetition create an expectation for the envelope’s intimate contents.